Thirty-seven investors, including some who mortgaged their homes to get money, have lost $1.5 million in a Denver scheme that promised a whopping 60 percent in annual interest. Among the big losers was L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology, who lost almost half a million dollars. The scheme has been investigated by the state securities division, and the FBI plans to investigate. The state has found evidence of criminal conduct and will present its findings Wednesday to the ...

CLEARWATER — In Pinellas County — with its 7 percent unemployment rate the signs on the four Church of Scientology buildings draw attention. Two say simply, "Now Hiring." Others promise a job with "low pay — great future." One along busy U.S. 19 touts jobs for "kitchen personnel." Two others boast: "We are recruiting." What the signs don't say is that the Church of Scientology isn't looking for employees. It is trying to recruit members. The signs also don't say that ...

Robert Dardano and Warren Friske were trusted members of the Boston mission of the Church of Scientology in the mid-1970s when they say they were recruited to join a group of other church members intent on carrying out "dirty tricks" against critics and others deemed enemies of the church in this area. The activities of the group included break-ins, the theft of documents, harassment and misrepresentation, according to sworn testimony by Dardano in Florida last year and affidavits from him and ...

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge Tuesday refused to release 21 boxes of personal letters and journals of reclusive Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard to church officials, despite a handwritten letter purportedly from Hubbard claiming them as his property. The material is the subject of a lawsuit by the Scientologists against their former member and archivist, Gerald Armstrong, seeking permanent return of the documents. The church claims that Armstrong stole the material. He claims that Hubbard had permitted him ...

The D.C. Police Department is conducting an internal investigation to determine how members of the Church of Scientology, a controversial religious group that has been investigated by law enforcement agencies, were able to set up a course for recruits at the D.C. Police Training Academy, police officials said. The course, taught by church members, was set up without the approval of Chief Maurice T. Turner Jr. and is contrary to the department's procedures regarding outsiders teaching police academy courses, according to ...

[Picture / Caption: Scientology's headquarters in L.A. was formerly the Cedars of Lebanon Hospital. The church purchased It for $5 million In 1977.] Last October in San Francisco, some 70 local leaders of the Church of Scientology gathered to hear nine church executives harangue them about their shortcomings. Styling themselves with titles that ranged from the quasi-military ("Commander," "Warrant Officer") to the quasi-lunatic ("International Finance Dictator"), the men announced that they represented the new hierarchy of the organization, and that they ...